


Seven Holy Virtues

by st_aurafina



Category: X-Men (Comicverse)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-07-07
Updated: 2011-07-07
Packaged: 2017-10-21 03:34:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 707
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/220453
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/st_aurafina/pseuds/st_aurafina
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Emma's life is full of virtues.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Seven Holy Virtues

**Author's Note:**

> Written as a companion piece for sionnain's [Hellfire: Seven Deadly Sins](http://community.livejournal.com/sionnain_fics/61010.html). Set around the Torn arc of Astonishing X-Men.

**Chastity**

Emma thought they had exhausted all permutations of intimacy in the first fervent months of love-making. She sprawled gloriously naked on the armchair, skin clammy, fingers now loosely tangled in Scott's damp hair, his head cradled in the vee of her thighs. Scott kissed the soft skin and stood up, reached for a blanket, tucked it around her shoulders. He brushed the hair from her forehead, kissed her, then left for the Danger Room. A simple gesture, it made Emma feel precious; intimacy without the trappings of sex. She shrugged further into the blanket, unsure why her eyes were burning.

 

 **Abstinence**

Emma knows she isn't frightened by grief. She attacks it, obliterates it, blasts it away with feelings that she understands better, like passion, like anger. It isn't that way for Scott. When it comes upon him, he takes measure of it, walks the boundaries of his grief, extinguishing spot fires that threaten to overwhelm him. On these nights, she sits with him, pressed to his back, breathing almost in unison. She would rather sear the sorrow out of his mind with her lips and her body, but she suspects in this case, it's best not to fight fire with fire.

 

 **Generosity**

It takes time and effort to snap Scott's temper. Emma starts early in the morning, with carefully placed words and an arched eyebrow. By lunchtime, the absence of words is a weapon, and she uses it, punctuated by tapping fingernails. He seethes silently at dinner, his mouth thin and flat. She remains pointedly polite. The argument, when it starts, is sub-vocal; Scott hissing at her in their bedroom, his body language brittle. Afterwards, he is finally able to slip into dreamless sleep. Emma know how much Scott hates to let go of his demons. She's happy to set them free.

 

 **Diligence**

Though fastidious, Emma is no housewife. She does like to play at the idea, when it suits her, and she pleases herself by bustling around the rooms they share. She finds a cheap hairbrush under the bed, red hair threaded through the bristles; a t-shirt of Scott's that someone has slept in; half-empty bottles of henna shampoo. These are little odds and ends that nobody needs anymore.

"What are you doing?" Scott asks, perplexed as she bundles things into boxes for goodwill.

"Just a touch of spring cleaning, darling," she says, as she industriously eradicates Jean's presence from their lives.

 

 **Patience**

Emma rather enjoys Kitty’s company, although she’s certain that the girl would be unlikely to reciprocate the sentiment. There’s something wicked and delicious in the way that Kitty squirms about in her seat at team meetings.

Emma is flirting with Kitty, of course, though nobody but Logan has realised.

Once she takes things a little too far, brushing her body past Kitty's as they pass in a narrow corridor. Logan gives her a warning glance, and she doesn't take it any further. One day Kitty will have the time and inclination to play. Good things come to those who wait.

 

 **Kindness**

The first kindness shown to Emma at the Xavier school was at the breakfast table. She sat down and Henry smiled over the top of his newspaper; handing her the financial pages before returning his eyes to the science editorial. A small thing, it went unnoticed by most people.

When Cassandra, ready to play, is moving towards the lab, Emma rattles the ice in her glass and affects a disinterested tone.

“You know best, of course, darling. It does seem a shame though, when he could disarm the others so effectively.”

Emma has a long memory for a small kindness.

 

 **Humility**

It’s time for Emma to disassemble Scott's mind, although, to be precise – Emma is always precise – Scott is disassembling it for her. Most people fight this dissolution of self; an instinct of self-preservation. Scott does not; Emma is surprised to find that his external thoughts of outrage and disappointment fall away lightly.

On the inside, where logic holds no sway, Scott lays his head on the block, and holds it still. He knows what comes next, welcomes it even. There is a purity of purpose to the way he destroys himself. It humbles Emma, who has sold herself to survive.


End file.
